American Samoa: factory owner jailed for 40 years over “human trafficking”

By John Braddock
16 July 2005

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In a case of what amounts to modern day slavery, a US federal judge in Hawaii late last month sentenced Kil Soo Lee, the former owner of a garment factory in American Samoa, to 40 years jail. The court also ordered the South Korean businessman to pay $US1.8 million in restitution to about 300 immigrant workers, who were lured to the South Pacific islands with the promise of three years’ employment and wages of $US400 per month.

Originally charged in 2001, Lee was convicted in February 2003 of a number of federal criminal violations, including involuntary servitude, extortion and money laundering. He owned the Daewoosa garment factory, which operated in the US territory from 1998 to 2001 using immigrant workers recruited from China and Vietnam and forced to labour in atrocious conditions.
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